Hold Up, Wait A Minute: A Cannabis and Alcohol Alliance?

Cannabis legalization happened in Canada on October 17th of 2018. Since then it’s been a bumpy ride. Consumers have experienced product shortages, inferior quality product, and high prices amongst many other unnecessary issues. It’s not just consumers that are facing hurdles and obstacles with cannabis legalization. Businesses looking to enter into the cannabis sector are also experiencing a bumpy roller coaster ride.

The Obstacles of Canna Infused Beverages

Let’s say you’re the maker of a beloved snack food or beverage. To keep your product on top, you have to adapt. The cheese doesn’t always stay in one place. When it’s moved you either, have to find more cheese, or you starve to death. In this case, the cheese would be in the form of cannabis. THC and CBD have become mainstream topics.

The cannabis industry has united with the alcohol industry to create a group compiled of cannabis and alcohol businesses. They formed an industry alliance to lobby support for the cannabis-infused beverage industry. Current regulations in Canada would require a beverage company or other to open an entirely new facility which would only handle cannabis products. No other products can be made in this facility that are not cannabis related.

The Cannabis Beverage Alliance

The Cannabis Beverage Alliance is compiled of 10 member companies. At the head of this alliance, you’ll find Darrell Dexter the former Nova Scotia Premier. Collective Arts Brewing, Hill Street Beverage Company, and Molson Coors-Hexo Corp are a few of the alliance members.

Health Canada is in the process of reviewing public opinion towards cannabis-infused edibles, topicals, and cannabis extracts. The current recommendations for the potency of cannabis-infused edibles in Canada is 10mg per package. This is virtually pointless unless you want to microdose. On the medical cannabis side in the United States, you can purchase a 1,000 mg edible and in recreational states, the limit is typically at least 100mg per package. It seems like a 10mg cap, and the requirement of an entirely new facility is a stab at fattening bank accounts for those running things.